PEOPLE are still crossing state borders and going visiting in defiance of public health orders because Putrajaya has failed to help the public understand how these actions can cause infections, health experts said.

Instead, the government prefers the punitive approach of fining the rule breakers.

Former deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye said people must be told why the rules were introduced in the first place.

“In the process of management and control, the government has emphasised too much on fines and has lacked in the part of education,” the PKR MP told The Malaysian Insight.

“We declare that cross-state travel is not allowed but do not make clear the dangers of it.

“The entire communication approach is wrong. If people do not understand, they will not follow the instructions. And they will continue to violate cross-state travel restrictions,” Lee said.

Interstate travel and social gatherings have been blamed for Covid-19 clusters in recent months.

This was notably so following Hari Raya Aidilfitri in May and Gawai the following month.

In the days ahead of Hari Raya Aidiladha, heavy traffic on the roads leading in and out of the capital indicated people were returning to their hometowns for the festival.

Up north, there were also reports of an increased number of vehicles entering Kelantan from Perlis, Kedah and Perak.

Police were prompted to warn motorists that the letters issued by the International Trade and Industry Ministry authorising their movements would not be accepted at the roadblocks as a permit for interstate travel from July 18 to 21.

Lee said such a situation was unfair to those who had legitimate reasons to travel.

“We don’t know whether law enforcement officers can distinguish between those who genuinely have business to attend to and those who are (abusing those letters and) taking the opportunity to cross state borders.”

Negative test result does not mean Covid-19 free

Professor Moy Foong Ming of Universiti Malaya’s Social and Preventive Medicine Department said a negative test result is not definitive.

“Even if a test is done, it is not necessarily 100% safe. It is possible that the viral load is not large enough to show a positive result,” she said.

She said people who test negative the first time could test positive later when the viral load increases.

“By that time you may have already infected your family.”

She said test kits are not 100% accurate and that she has seen patients with negative results who have infection symptoms.

The government’s policy is to test for Covid-19 only when a person shows symptoms. Home isolation is recommended for those who have come into contact with an infected person.

No visiting

Moy urged the public to stay home to avoid spreading the virus.

She said her colleagues in the Klang Valley are afraid to visit their parents because they fear they could be carriers.

“You should not visit each other even if you’re living in the same area because no one is safe. The infection rate in the community is high,” she said.

Daily new Covid-19 cases have stayed above 10,000 in the past week.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said all adults in Malaysia will be vaccinated by October. – July 22, 2021.